FAA investigating 11 air carriers on safety issues

The cases were uncovered during a major Federal Aviation Administration effort to verify whether air carriers follow the agency's safety orders as required.

The first phase of the inquiry earlier this spring found seven instances in which four carriers had not complied with safety orders. FAA officials declined to identify the carriers and said they did not know if some of the new cases involve carriers already under investigation.

The inquiries were announced by FAA administrator Robert Sturgell, who said 98 percent of the 5,600 safety directives audited by the agency had been followed by the carriers. He said the relatively few cases in which safety directives weren't followed indicates there is a high level of safety in the U.S. air traffic system. He noted that the U.S. hasn't experienced a major airline accident in over two years.

"These kinds of numbers are not an accident, it's not a miracle, it's not luck," Sturgell said. "It's the result of an entire team effort--the government, the industry, Congress, everybody involved in the aviation system--producing the safety net we have today."

David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, which represents the airline industry, said the association is pleased with the audit findings.

Besides the 17 cases, most of the discrepancies uncovered by the audits "were generally technical and did not impact safety," Castelveter said. Nevertheless, they "serve as a useful reminder that we can always do better," he said.

The audit inquiries covered about 10 percent of FAA's safety directives.

FAA whistleblower Gabriel Bruno, who left the agency in 2006, was skeptical that the audits were carried out in a way that would have uncovered serious problems.

"They filled out their own report card and gave themselves all A's," Bruno said Friday.